The Doctor, the Wolf and the Medicine Woman
by Jesa463
Summary: The Doctor crashes in Ice-Age Europe and meets an unusual young woman. He sees that a terrible knowledge is hidden in her blue eyes. Takes place in the beginning of Plains of Passage, and after The Doctor left Amy & Rory near the end of series 6. Jondalar/Ayla R&R
1. Dream of the Falling Sky

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><p><em>Ayla was drifting among the stars, and she could no longer see the ground, or the earth. She could feel every single star burning in her mind, and it was painful, but wonderful at the same time. If she listened really close she could hear voices, as many voices as there were stars. Her heart burned with so many familiar and unfamiliar emotions. Ayla cried as she saw everything that ever was, and will ever be. Then she was flying, or falling, so fast she could hear the stars whistling by her ears, and she was back on earth again. She lay on the ground gazing up at where she had been just moments ago. <em>

_Suddenly pure light engulfed the sky, and she could see something falling towards her incredibly fast. She tried to scream, but her cries were lost in the blinding light and the terrible whirling sound that accompanied it. The light was so bright that it hurt, and it only intensified as she closed her eyes. Then she saw something through the light; it was big and ugly, and it was the color of the sky at the moment before dusk and before dawn. It came so close, so close she thought it would fall on her and kill her. She was relieved when it flew right over her head and disappeared over the horizon. She watched it fall, and the earth shook with it's impact. The earth would not stop shaking, and she was sobbing with tears running down her face. An overwhelming sense of loss and grief gripped her tightly, squeezing her chest so hard it hurt deep within her heart.  
><em>

She woke up screaming!

Ayla sat bolt upright in her sleeping furs, shaking, with tears streaming down her face. That devastating grief clung to her heart, and she struggled to pull herself out of the daze of her horrible nightmare. She braved a look at the sky, and saw the same terrible shade of blue; it was just before dawn. She shuddered and sobbed.

"Ayla! Oh, Ayla! Calm down. It was only a nightmare!" Jondalar's warm voice comforted her.

"Oh, Jondalar!" She felt his long arms wrap around her and pull her close to him. She was soothed by his closeness, and her sobs died down. Ayla gasped for breath, spent.

"It was so horrible." she cried. She buried her face in her hands, and leaned into Jondalar's embrace.

"I know, but it's over now." Jondalar hushed her. His brow furrowed in concern for the woman he loved.

Ayla tore herself away from him and dried her tears. She gazed at the flickering embers of the fire with a faraway look in her eyes. Jondalar went to make tea for them both, and occasionally looked back at Ayla. When he came back and sat beside her he handed her a cup, and she sipped the warm liquid. They sat and watched the sky, and after a while they saw a faint streak of light move across the sky. Ayla shuddered remembering her dream of the falling sky.

"What is it, Ayla?" Jondalar noticed her pallor.

She looked at him with sorrowful blue eyes. "My dream."

"What about it?" He stared at her quizzically, but tried to look comforting.

She closed her eyes tightly and spoke with so much feeling it made Jondalar's throat tighten, "I saw so much, and felt so much. It was horrible, and it was wonderful. I was so scared, so sad. The sky fell and the earth shook." She stopped and suppressed a sob that threatened to break the surface.

"It was just a dream, and you know that." Jondalar wanted to erase all worry and fear from Ayla's mind.

"I know." Ayla said.

Jondalar finished his tea and crawled back under the sleeping furs. "Now try and go back to sleep."

Ayla tried to go back to bed again, but sleep would not come so easily to her. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw horrible images. Instead she decided to watch the night fade to morning. She felt the warm fluffiness that was Wolf at her feet, and saw Whinney and Racer's silhouettes leaning against each other. The presence of her beloved animals and the man she loved eased her mind, and she dozed off as the terrible shade of blue was replaced by a refreshing tint.


	2. Running

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><p>He was running. He was so desperate to avoid the inevitable fate that awaited him by Lake Silencio, Utah on April 22, 2011 at 5:02 pm. He didn't want to face it. The only thing he could do was run, and he could run for as long as he liked, for he had all of time. But was that enough for him? The Doctor had been running for so long now, and he had become reckless. Things got more and more out of control each time he went off through the Time Vortex on another wild adventure to distract him from the fixed point in time. The only possibility of finding his way back up was to reach rock bottom, and he was about to do just that.<p>

The TARDIS tossed her little Thief around inside her Console Room as she raced through the Time Vortex. She kept going back, and back, so far back. She went all the way back to the beginnings of man, and the adolescent Earth. She flew through time with reckless abandon, and danced through space. She slowed her pace to enjoy drifting among the stars. She could hear them, and feel their burning inside her. The TARDIS reminisced, and remembered everything that ever was, and will be. Suddenly she dashed off towards the little blue-and-green planet in all Her beauty. She was flying, or falling, down to Earth and the TARDIS burst through Earth's atmosphere. Light engulfed her, and she started to lose control somewhat. She could feel her Thief running around, and trying to smooth out their ride. She finally let go and hurled herself at the Earth.

He felt the impact, and he was going to be feeling it for a while yet. The Doctor groaned in pain as he peeled himself off the glass floor of the Console Room, only to be downed again by overwhelming vertigo. He waited impatiently for it to subside before attempting an exit. He hadn't had a landing quite like that in some time. The Time Lord wondered why the TARDIS was behaving like this. Maybe she was in one of her moods, or something, he thought. He was completely oblivious to the fact that she was only reflecting his own careless attitude.

The Doctor straightened his bow-tie and ran a bony hand through his flippy hair. He bounded out through wooden doors that creaked as they opened inwards. The fresh sunlight tickled his skin as he stepped out onto the windswept grasslands of prehistoric Europe. The vast plains nearly took his breath away, but this was just one of many such sights he'd seen in his various lifetimes. It was a nice view, nonetheless.

Hundreds and thousands of miles of open space carpeted with soft, dun-yellow grass that swayed almost hypnotically in the Ice-Age summer breeze. In the far distance there were almost-brand-new, ice-capped mountains that were only visible as grey silhouettes. Herds of all kinds of grazing animals roamed the fields: Giant Deer, Megaceros, Aurochs, Bison, Steppe horses, onagers, and more. A wide, freshwater river twisted and turned its way along the great expanse of land. It was pure, and undisturbed by man.

The Doctor took pleasure in the landscape before his eyes. "Nice view." he said pointedly.

"But why have you brought me here?" The Time lord continued on his one-sided dialogue with his TARDIS.

"I know you must have a reason, and you always claim to take me where I need to go -instead of where I want to go. How can I be needed here?"

The Doctor took on a lighter tone, "Are there alien forces that have come to take over? Is there a child crying? Is there knowledge to be discovered?"

At that last remark, the TARDIS hummed a response. The Doctor glanced at his faithful and constant companion. He patted the wood that was the same shade as the sky before dusk and dawn. He scanned the valley below and spied a camp. Humans, he thought. Another adventure was waiting for him down in that tent; one that would prove to be worthwhile in the long run.

"Wish me luck." The Time Lord asked his TARDIS, and set out across the plains.


	3. Doctor

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><p>Ayla woke with a start as the ground shuddered beneath her, and her heart raced in a panic. She tried to calm herself by rationalizing that it was only a dream, but she was still plagued by remnants of vague hysteria from a slow-fading nightmare. As she gained more consciousness, she found it hard to tell if she imagined what she felt, or if it really happened. She sat up in her sleeping furs and reality sank in. Jondalar was still dozing beside her, Wolf was still curled up at her feet, and Whinney and Racer were grazing in a field a few yards away from their camp. She got up, trying not to wake Jondalar, and went to go tend the fire. The sky was getting lighter, but the sun still hadn't risen. She had not slept for long, but to her it felt like hours.<p>

She built small flames up from dieing coals, and put some heating stones near the fire to boil water for tea. She took a cooking bag that was made from the water-proofed stomach of an aurochs, and started to make a soup for their morning meal. It was so easy to follow her routine absentmindedly, and right now she preferred it that way; she did not want to think about the terrible images that haunted her dreams. She hung the cooking bag high above the fire so it would not burn, and went down to the river. At the bank of the river, she pulled off her leggings, untied the leather thong at her waist and pulled her light leather tunic over her head. Her hand reached up to clasp a small leather pouch hung from a necklace adorned with beautiful ivory beads and golden amber. She pulled it off over her head and set it down with her clothes.

She waded in to the frigid water until she was up to her waist, then she kicked off. The cold water sent shivers through her and raised gooseflesh all over her body, but she welcomed the feeling; it just felt so nice to be back in the water. She swam upstream with strong strokes, and her pulse quickened with the strain. She swam back downstream, and then back to shore. She wrung her wet blonde hair out and pushed the water off her body with her hands. Feeling refreshed, Ayla put her clothes back on her still-wet skin, and walked back to camp. When Ayla got back, she noticed Whinney and Racer were back near the fire where they felt the safest. As the woman approached her, Whinney gave a small nicker and Ayla returned it with a perfect imitation. Ayla patted the horse on her withers and calmed her with a few more soft nickers. She gave Racer a quick pat and left to tend to the meal.

Ayla sat down at the fire and checked on the soup. She started to boil water in one of her water-tight cooking baskets, one of many woven from the grasses that grew on the steppes above her cave where she lived in her valley. She went through her pack baskets and took out two bowls for her and Jondalar. When the soup was cooked and the water boiled, Ayla made some chamomile tea as she set out Jondalar's breakfast for him. She didn't touch anything yet, and just watched the fire. She felt soft fur brush against her leg and reached her fingers into Wolf's thick ruff without moving her eyes away from the flames. Wolf rolled onto his back and squirmed as Ayla scratched his tummy affectionately. Despite being almost full-grown, Wolf was still merely a puppy, and he was just as rambunctious and playful as one.

Ayla chuckled at him, "Oh, Wolf."

"Well, something sure smells good!" Jondalar said, walking up and sitting down at the fire. He noticed his bowl full of soup and cup filled with tea, and he picked them up, digging in."Nice soup. You should have some too, Ayla." Jondalar noticed her clean and empty bowl set out in front of her like she was going to fill it, but didn't.

Ayla nodded, "I will. Thanks." She made herself tea, and hesitated before filling her bowl with the warm soup. She ate sparingly, but drained her cup of tea pretty fast.

Jondalar noticed an edge to her. "Are you okay, Ayla?" She may still be thinking about her nightmare from last night, Jondalar thought, and his brow furrowed.

"I thought I felt something this morning, but I'm not sure if I just imagined it or not." Ayla said.

"It could have just been a dream," Jondalar started to say, and Ayla was ready to agree with him and forget about it, then he continued, "but I may have felt something too. I was half asleep, so I just ignored it."

Ayla paled and made herself more tea. Jondalar regretted mentioning it, and searched around for something to take their mind off of the matter.

"I think we should go hunting soon." Jondalar said changing the subject. "I want for some fresh roast, how about you?"

"Yes, we should. It would be nice." Ayla said, but her mind was elsewhere.

Later, Ayla loaded Whinney up with the pack baskets and travois while Jondalar was fitting Racer with his harness. They gathered all their spears, some of the two-parted spears Jondalar had devised, and armed themselves with their spear throwers. Ayla still carried her sling, but she decided to just use it to tie back her hair. After they checked to make sure all the preparations were in order, Ayla leaped onto Whinney's back with a practiced jump and Jondalar did the same as he mounted Racer. Ayla whistled to Wolf and he bounded after them as they rode out.

After a while of riding, they spotted a very small herd of grazing aurochs. There were only two bulls, four cows, and three yearling calves. Ayla and Jondalar were very careful not to get too close and stay downwind of the herd, but even if the herd noticed them, they would not feel as threatened because of the horses, however if Wolf were to get too close they would scatter and the hunt could be ruined. They had learned that the hard way. Ayla signaled Wolf to hold back, and the young animal reluctantly curbed his enthusiasm, but followed a few feet behind the woman. They saw one of the cows straying away from the group, and Ayla pointed her out to Jondalar. The young cow looked weak: the perfect target. He nodded and signaled her to circle around while he went the other way. She nodded back, and urged Whinney on.

They fanned out; Ayla on Whinney at one side of the cow, Jondalar on Racer at the other side, and Wolf taking up the rear. They were a formidable team of hunters; the two humans who were both hunter and gatherer, the wolf: a predator by nature, and two steppe horses that should instinctively be threatened by wolves and humans, but were raised to familiarize themselves with them as their own 'herd'. As they closed in on the cow, the herd looked up from their grazing and started to move away, leaving the young cow isolated. The herd was already too far away by the time the cow could notice what was happening. She paced frantically and started to take off after them. Ayla signaled to Jondalar and Wolf to give chase, and she urged Whinney to a gallop. The young cow sped off into a sprint, bawling her panic. Adrenaline boosted her speed, but it was short lived as she ran out of endurance. Ayla and Jondalar quickly gained on her, and as they approached her they loaded their spear throwers and took aim. Ayla was first to fire off a quick spear that lodged itself deep into the cow's ribcage. The cow struggled and bawled her pain weakly, but it was cut short by Jondalar's spear as it lodged itself into the other side of her ribs. The cow fell as she softly bawled one last cry, and Wolf sprang onto the dieing beast.

Ayla rode up to where the cow had fallen, dismounted and slit the animal's throat. She shooed Wolf away and started to skin the hide as Jondalar rode up on Racer. He dismounted and went to help Ayla with skinning the animal. Jondalar took an ivory-handled flint knife from the leather holder tied to his waist thong and helped Ayla cut away at the tendons holding the hide in place. When that was done, they gutted the animal and started to cut out the most useful and choicest parts: the stomach, the bladder, the tongue, the liver and the heart. As Ayla emptied and set the stomach and bladder aside, she packed the tongue, liver, and heart away for cooking later. Jondalar started to carve off tongue-shaped pieces of meat to be preserved, and threw one to Wolf so he would not interfere. The remaining meat was cut up into easily-transported pieces to be loaded onto the travois. It was almost noon before they had everything packed up and ready to return to their camp. Jondalar mounted Racer as Ayla whistled for Wolf, who had gone off while they were packing up, and mounted Whinney as she saw the young wolf bounding towards them.

They quickly rode back to camp, and as soon as she dismounted, Ayla unloaded the pack baskets and travois from Whinney. As Jondalar sent the horses to graze, Ayla started to dig a cooking pit for the meat. She lined the cooking pit with stones, lit a fire with a nodule of iron pyrite and what she had left of a tinder kit, and lowered the meat into the pit, covering it with more stones. Jondalar set the slices of meat out above the fire to dry and boiled more water for tea. Ayla took the tongue and added it to the soup that she had made for their breakfast. Ayla went to check her collection of herbs and spices to season the meal with. She could use some of the spicy horseradish that tasted good with the meat when used sparingly, and she could use some salty-tasting coltsfoot to enhance the flavor. After she seasoned the meat and added more water to the soup so that it wouldn't burn, Ayla went to go wash up in the river.

"Are you coming too, Jondalar?" Ayla called.

"Yes. I'd like to wash this blood off." Jondalar quickly followed her.

Ayla and Jondalar went down to the river, Whinney and Racer grazed on the steppes, and Wolf was off exploring again. Ayla and Jondalar peeled off their bloody and dirty clothes as they reached the riverbank. After taking a quick dip in the cool water, they rinsed their clothes and lay them out to dry in the summer sun. They bathed while their clothes dried and scrubbed their bodies with the fine river sand. When they felt clean and refreshed, Ayla and Jondalar sat on the rocks as they brushed out tangles in each others hair with sticks. They both relished in their closeness, and felt their mutual desire growing, but chastely restrained themselves. When both their skin and clothing dried, they dressed themselves and walked back to camp together. When they got back, Ayla whistled for the horses and called to Wolf. She was checking the meat as the horses and the wolf came back to camp. When the meat was cooked, she served Jondalar a slice of the roast and a bowl of the tasty tongue soup. Ayla served herself a dish and made tea for both of them. She had barely tucked in when she heard Whinney's distressed nicker and Wolf rumbling a low growl. Ayla saw the horses shifting nervously and the wolf had his teeth bared in warning.

"Something is scaring the animals." Ayla said, and set her dish aside to go see. She knelt down next to Wolf putting an arm around him and trying to calm him down. She searched the landscape for what had made her animals so nervous, and saw a strange man walking towards their camp. She called for Jondalar, and he came up and stood beside her.

"Look!" Ayla pointed to the man while she held Wolf back. His growl had become louder as the man came closer, and Ayla could tell the animal was ready to attack by the way his muscles tensed.

"Hello!" The man waved as he approached them and smiled. He eyed the wolf nervously. "Nice... wolf." The man spoke with a strange accent.

Suddenly it occurred to them that he was speaking Mamutoi, and they relaxed a bit, but they were still apprehensive of him. Jondalar waved and greeted him with a nervous smile.

"Hello. I am Jondalar of the Ninth cave of the Zelandonii." Jondalar formally introduced himself and spread his arms in a gesture of welcome.

Ayla signaled to Wolf that it was okay, and she stood to face the man. "I am Ayla of the Mamutoi, daughter of the Mammoth Hearth of the Lion Camp, chosen by the spirit of the Cave Lion, protected by the Cave Bear." the woman formally introduced herself.

"And I'm The Doctor!" The man said smiling widely. Ayla could tell that, by the way he spoke, he was telling the truth, but not the whole truth.

They were both taken aback by the man's strange introduction and even stranger name. Maybe it was a normal name in a different language, but that meant he was something other than Mamutoi, so why, and how was he speaking Mamutoi? Ayla tried to read his body language and searched for all the nuances. He seemed overly friendly to her, and there was something odd about him; Ayla didn't like him. As the man came closer she looked at his face, and especially his eyes. In his eyes Ayla saw great knowledge and immense power, and she felt a vague sense of fear. He looked young, but something about him seemed old. His clothes were even stranger; they were ugly, and he had unusual hair; it was short and flipped over to one side, almost covering his eye.

"That's an unusual name, 'Doctor'." Jondalar said.

"Yes. It means a person who helps people in my language." Doctor said.

"And what language would that be? It can't be Mamutoi, so how did you learn to speak it?" Jondalar was curious.

"Mamu-what? Oh, right! Well, I just sort of picked it up during my travels. I'm a traveler." Doctor explained.

"We're travelers too. Ayla and I are making a Journey back to the Zelandonii to the far west. I'm taking her back to my family." Jondalar said. He noticed Doctor's lack of travel gear. "Would you like to join us for a meal?"

"I'd love to!" Doctor said while rubbing his hands together.

"Are you sure about this, Jondalar? I do not trust this man." Ayla spoke to Jondalar in Zelandonii, assuming that Doctor wouldn't understand the language.

"It is fine, Ayla. The man does not even have any traveling gear; he must be starving. It will not hurt us to help this man." Jondalar persuaded Ayla.

Ayla noticed how beat-up the strange man looked. "Alright then." the woman relented, and went back to the fire.

"Right this way, Doctor." Jondalar said, and they walked side-by-side a few feet behind Ayla back to their camp.


	4. Storytelling

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><p>When they went back to their camp, the horses were still agitated by the strange man, and the woman soothed them with a soft nicker and a few pats. Ayla searched the pack baskets for an extra bowl as Doctor and Jondalar sat by the fire. Ayla served Doctor a bowl of the hot tongue soup and some fresh roast. Ayla quietly ate her meal and kept a watchful eye on Doctor. Wolf kept his distance from the stranger that had infiltrated his pack, curled up on the ground at Ayla's feet, and gnawed on a piece of meaty bone the woman had given him as a reward for his help in the hunt. Everything was silent except for the crackling fire, the snorting horses, and the sounds of slurping soup. The Doctor looked content, but as he observed Ayla's body language he could tell there was an undeniable resentment towards him. He searched for a way to smooth things over, by means of conversation, or perhaps a compliment. The idea came to him as he slurped his soup.<p>

"This is some interesting meat. What is it?" Doctor asked.

"Tongue, and it's fresh too." Jondalar said.

The Doctor made a face and spit the soup he had in his mouth back into the bowl. He set the bowl down on the ground and started to pick at the slice of roast. What he wouldn't give for some fish fingers and custard right about now. He noticed Jondalar chuckle and shrug, and caught Ayla glaring at him. He had insulted her, he knew, but he didn't mean to. He wasn't making a good first impression on her, and he needed to make things right if he was going to gain anything from this experience. I should ask them about something, he thought, get a conversation going, but what? Jondalar had said something about a Journey. That's it, he decided.

"So, tell me about your Journey." Doctor asked.

Jondalar was caught off-guard by Doctor's sudden interest, but obliged the man with his story. "Well, four years ago I set out on a Journey with my brother, Thonolan." Jondalar said as a twinge of pain crept into his voice. "We were going to follow the river all the way until she emptied into the sea, and we did. Along the way, we met with people called the Sharamudoi, and we lived with them for a while. My brother fell in love with one of their women, Jetamio, and mated her." His voice grew thick with sadness. "She died in childbirth, along with her son, shortly after. Thonolan was devastated, and we had to leave. We continued on and reached the end of the river, where we met a Mamutoi Camp."

"Is that where you met Ayla?" Doctor interrupted.

"No." Jondalar said, and continued.

"After we left the Mamutoi Camp, we traveled north. Thonolan wanted to keep on traveling until he died because he missed Jetamio, and because he wanted to die too. One time we were hunting, and a lioness stole our kill. Thonolan foolishly went after her to get his spear back, and we found her den. The lioness' mate came back to the den before we could get out, and we were attacked. Thonolan was killed and I was badly injured. Just when I thought the biggest Cave Lion I've ever seen was about to end my life, Ayla came out of nowhere and stopped the lion in his tracks. She was living in the valley near there, and had raised the lion from a cub, so it did whatever she told it to. It was the most amazing thing I'd seen in my entire life. Ayla really has a way with animals."

The Doctor was dumbfounded by the story. "A lion?"

"I was forced out from the people who raised me, and I lived alone in my valley for three years before I met Jondalar." Ayla's voice was distant as she spoke.

"I learned to hunt by myself and survive on my own, but I was so lonely. When I hunted steppe horses, I killed a nursing dam, and that's how I met Whinney." the woman nodded her head towards the dun-yellow mare.

"I raised her from a foal, and she became my friend. Even after she found a mate and lived with a herd of her own, she came back to me. As our friendship grew we came to know and understand each other. I began to ride her, and she knew exactly where I wanted to go, sometimes before I even knew it myself. She would help me hunt by carrying stuff on the travois I made. One time while hunting reindeer, I unintentionally drove them to stampede right into a pride of cave lions. I found a cub that was badly kicked and trampled. I was raised and taught by a highly skilled healer from an ancient line, so I healed the cub, and raised him as my baby. Baby helped me hunt too, and after he left and found a mate, he came back and visited me sometimes."

"Baby," Ayla's voice was thick with melancholy. "He never outgrew that name, even when he grew so big."

"A pet lion named Baby. I'm impressed!" Doctor said.

Ayla lit up at the man's compliment. Maybe I misjudged him, she thought. Now that she thought about it, he didn't fear her for her association with animals when he first saw her. This was the first person she's met that wasn't apprehensive of her keeping animals. He couldn't be that bad if he was okay with the idea. This man was certainly strange, and Ayla had no idea what to make of him. He was a complete mystery to her, and somehow she was still fearful of him.

"I'm glad you think so, but not everyone does." Ayla said.

"Well, why not? I think it's a great idea! You should pass it on." Doctor said smirking.

"It's never been done before, and most people think animals are just animals. Everyone else I've met thought I was strange, or was afraid of me for keeping animals, and even the people of Lion Camp thought so too before they adopted me." Ayla said. "The people of the Clan would not like the idea about keeping predatory animals." Ayla said glancing down at Wolf, letting her guard down a little.

"You were adopted by the Lion Camp? Were you not Mamutoi before? Who are the people of the Clan?" Doctor asked.

Ayla's face fell, and she heaved a big sigh, "Yes. I was adopted by the Mamutoi because I had no people after I was forced out of the Clan. The Clan raised me as a little girl, but I was not born to them. I don't remember anything of where I came from before the Clan."

"Who are the Clan, Ayla?" Doctor pressed.

Ayla and Jondalar shared a worried glance. They had no idea how the man would react to what they would tell him, but they could only assume he would react how any one else would: with revulsion and hatred. Ayla didn't want to tell him because she couldn't bare being ridiculed for being raised by the Clan, for being adopted by people that the Others considered 'flatheads' or 'animals'. But this man didn't hate her for raising her own animals, so maybe he wouldn't hate her for being raised by 'animals'. She didn't know what to do, and her mind was in turmoil. She could ease him into it, tell him how they took her in and cared for her, even loved her despite her being different, and how human they were.

After a long pause Ayla sighed and began, "I lost my home and my family in an earthquake when I was a little girl. I wandered alone until I was found by the Clan. I was attacked by a cave lion, but got away with only scratches." Ayla showed the man the four parallel claw marks on her thigh. "Their medicine woman, Iza, healed my wounds and cared for me. They adopted me into their clan, and Iza raised me alongside her own daughter, my sister, Uba. Iza taught me to be a medicine woman from her memories. Everyone in the Clan has memories that are passed down through each generation, and even though I didn't have the memories, I became a medicine woman too. Even though I was different, they loved me: Iza, Uba, Creb The Mog-ur, and even Brun the leader. Only Broud hated me, and after he became leader he cursed me with death and took everything I loved away from me." Ayla's eyes were brimming with tears as she recalled the only family she could remember, and her painful separation from the people she loved with all her heart.

"Who are the Clan?" Doctor pressed on with even more urgency to his voice.

"They call themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear, but most people call them 'Flatheads'." Ayla answered.

"Describe them. Tell me what they look like." he said.

Ayla was puzzled by his demand, but as he was a man she did what he asked of her, like she was taught to do as a woman of the Clan. "They're very short," Ayla began. "I was much taller than most of the men by the time I became a woman, and they're very strong. Their foreheads don't come up as far as ours, but slope back. They all have wide noses, and they don't have this bone that sticks out below their mouths," Ayla touched her chin. "Their mouths stick out like this," Ayla moved her hand in front of her face in a short muzzle-like shape.

The Doctor's eyes widened in recognition; she had just described Neanderthals. A Cro-Magnon woman living among Neanderthals, learning their language, their customs, their beliefs; not impossible, just unlikely. Instinctively, neither species would have done something like that, but for it to occur was a rare and remarkable instance. To take in a child of the other, going against their beliefs, showed the true extent of human compassion. It was one of the few things the Doctor admired about humankind, and it was just enough to make both of his hearts swell. But, then again, how could it not?

"That's... brilliant. You're very special, Ayla." the Doctor said.

Jondalar and Ayla were baffled by his reaction, or lack thereof. Anyone else would have been repulsed by her, but he did not seem to be averse to the notion, rather he seemed awed by it. The only other person they've met that felt the same was the old Mamut of Lion Camp, but that was because he knew the Clan before. What was even more curious was that the man didn't even know who they were referring to as flatheads, until Ayla described them to him. This man must be very different than the people they've known, and he must live very far away, so far away from everyone that he wasn't even aware of people's hostility towards the Clan. They were both especially curious about the Doctor now.

After a long pause, Jondalar braved the question, "So, Doctor, where are you from?"

"Oh, it's a long story. You wouldn't want to hear it, trust me." Doctor said.

"We've told you our stories, the least you can do is share yours." Jondalar protested.

The Doctor was contemplative for a moment, then decided that he had nothing to lose in telling them something. "Alright, then." he complied. "I come from a place very, very far away, a whole world away from here." the Doctor began. The two people couldn't even begin to comprehend what he meant, but they kept listening attentively. The expression on the Doctor's face turned stony, and his eyes went cold. "But it's long gone now." he said. The man and woman in his company were in awe of his words as he went on, "I've been traveling for a long, long time now. I've made so many friends, seen such wonderful sights, done amazing things." The Doctor's voice filled with grief and remorse. "But I've also made many enemies, lost friends, seen terrible sights, and done bad things." He faked a smile to mask a quiver in his lower lip as he said, "But all adventures have to come to an end, and I'm afraid my adventures are coming to an end soon." The Doctor looked up at the faces of the man and woman, and found similar frowns on their faces.

"What was your home called?" It was Ayla that asked this time.

"Gallifrey." the Doctor said.

The word sent Ayla's mind racing; it sounded unusual, fantastical, and even beautiful. There was a heaviness to how he said the word, and it felt like it saddened him to say it, though she could imagine why. She couldn't explain it, but she felt a vague connection to that word, and she wondered if it could possibly have something to do with her dream, or where she came from. Her head was spinning with those thoughts, and she felt a bit nauseous, or anxious; she didn't know which.

"Do you miss it?" the woman asked.

"Oh, yes." the man said, almost in a whisper. The Doctor's brow furrowed, and after a moment of painful silence he said, "Well, I think that's enough storytelling for now."

Jondalar noticed Ayla blanch slightly. "Are you okay, Ayla?" he asked.

"I'm not feeling too well. I think I'll feel better after some tea, though." she said. Ayla didn't want to worry him, but she couldn't lie; she was incapable of it.

Ayla's mind was reeling so fast it made her head hurt, and she was feeling even more nauseated now. The medicine woman stood up to get some herbs to ease her sickness, but was overwhelmed with a lightheaded feeling. She tried to stagger away from the fire, but she was too dizzy. Her vision started to blur, and when she tried to focus by blinking, her eyes burned. Images from her dream played over in her mind as her knees weakened. She started shaking uncontrollably, and she could feel her consciousness slipping away. She didn't have any idea what was wrong with her, and she felt so scared. The last shred of her grip on reality faded, and she fainted, falling to the ground in a shaky, sweaty heap.

Jondalar rushed to her side, followed quickly by Doctor, and held her tight in his arms. "Ayla! My Ayla! What has happened? Oh, Doni! What is wrong with her?" the man cried out.


	5. Dangerous Knowledge

**5**

* * *

><p>The Doctor stood idly over the man holding an unconscious Ayla in his arms and trying to rouse her, to no avail. He was surprised and a little scared; the woman showed no signs of ailment prior to her collapse, and he had just been talking to her. His first impulse was to whip out his sonic screwdriver, but these people weren't even up to the Copper Age yet and they might be frightened by his alien technology. He decided to treat this situation like a doctor of any time period would. He walked over to the other side of the woman and knelt down. He pressed his hand to her forehead to check her temperature. She was burning up.<p>

"Help me get her over to her sleeping place." The Doctor told the man.

Jondalar hesitated and stared at The Doctor with a crazed look in his eyes, which the other man returned with a determined glare. Without a word, the grief-stricken man did as he was told and helped The Doctor move Ayla onto their sleeping roll, then covered her with the furs. He looked down at her face with a loving look that also held fear for the woman he loved so dearly. All the colour had drained from her cheeks, and sweat beaded her brow. Jondalar was devastated: he loved Ayla, and he could not imagine living without her. He never understood why his brother Thonolan wanted to die after his mate left this world until he met Ayla.

"We'll need some fresh cold water." The Doctor said, snapping Jondalar out of his reverie. The Doctor looked around and thought about their choice of materials; almost everything was made from the tanned hides of animals, or woven from dried grasses. "And a scrap of leather." he added.

"We need to bring her temperature down." The Doctor explained. The man just stared at The Doctor with a conflicted gaze. He clearly felt uncomfortable leaving his companion's side at such a time, but he was also desperate."Trust me." The Doctor looked into the man's eyes and pleaded.

Jondalar stared down at the woman for a moment and moved to do The Doctor's bidding. He cut a piece of leather from a spare hide with his flint knife, setting it out for The Doctor to use, grabbed an empty water-tight container and hastily announced: "I'm going down to the river."

The Doctor watched the man turn and hurry away. As soon as Jondalar was out of sight and earshot, he turned to the unconscious woman and pulled out a small metal implement from the inside pocket of his jacket. He examined the woman, scanning her with the sonic screwdriver. He gave the tool a flick with a swift movement of his wrist, and studied the readings. Recognition and dread registered on his face. Her mental capacity had reached its limit, and it was failing to process impossible knowledge, dangerous knowledge. It was knowledge that no human mind could possibly cope with, no matter how intelligent. It was destroying her mind, and killing off her body. He knew because he possessed that same knowledge, and he'd seen what it could do to someone like Ayla.

"What?" The Doctor exclaimed. "How is that even possible?" Before he could work out an answer to his own rhetorical question, The Doctor was snapped back to reality by Jondalar's hurried footsteps behind him. He quickly fumbled the sonic back into his jacket and turned round to receive the water from Jondalar. The Doctor dipped the soft leather into the water, wrung it out, and pressed it on the woman's forehead.

"Is she going to be alright?" Jondalar piped up.

The Doctor looked at the tall man with empathy, and his eyes softened. "I will do everything I can to help her. I promise." Jondalar nodded halfheartedly.

"Tell me about Ayla, Jondalar."

The tall man was taken aback, and he didn't know what to say to the demand, or what The Doctor really wanted to hear. He started to think about Ayla: her eyes, her smile, her laugh. He struggled to hold his composure as her face played around in his mind. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, I think you'll agree that she is a remarkable woman," The Doctor started, "and possessed of some amazing talents and abilities."

"Indeed she is," Jondalar agreed. "You already know that she's got a special way with animals. She's also quick to pick up language, which comes from her background with the Clan. She also has great skill as a healer, better than most I know."

"What else?" The Doctor urged. "Anything you can't explain?"

Jondalar was stunned. How could he know? he thought. "Well, she sometimes has these dreams..." he trailed off, and suddenly his expression turned apprehensive. "But what does that have to do with anything, and what makes you ask such questions?"

"I told you: I'm The Doctor, and I help people. I'm going to help you, but I need to know-"

"And this 'Gallifrey', it does not sound like the name of any people I know. Just who are you?"

Just then the woman started to stir and call out to her companion. Jondalar rushed to her side and comforted her. He removed the cloth from her forehead, dipped it back in the water, wrung it out, and replaced it on her head. Jondalar stroked the side of Ayla's face as she weakly opened her eyes to see him and Doctor knelt over her. She could still feel something burning deep inside her, and she was shaking. When she saw the worried look on Jondalar's face, she tried to smile reassuringly. She felt him heave a sigh as they exchanged loving looks. She then turned her attention to The Doctor, whom, she guessed, had taken care of her.

"Are you alright now, Ayla?" The Doctor asked.

"It burns." she answered truthfully.

"You have a temperature," The Doctor explained, "but I'm going to help you."

"But how can you..?" she started to ask, but he cut her off.

"My name also means 'healer'." The Doctor explained then added: "Trust me."

Ayla was shocked. It was yet another mystery about him, and she wondered what others he had hidden within himself.

"Jondalar has just told me that you have strange dreams." Seeing the look on Ayla's face, The Doctor asked as delicately as he could: "Can you tell me a little bit about them?"

Ayla considered this, though she was still hesitant. She never told anyone but Jondalar and Mamut about her dreams. She wanted answers, though, and had already told The Doctor so much. She decided on trusting him.

"Sometimes I see Creb, and he's telling me to follow him or to go somewhere, and it's a place I've never seen before, but I feel like I know it, or should know it, like it's part of me." She said.

The Doctor listened and nodded, "Anything else that's strange or can't be explained?"

Ayla thought for a moment, "Well, one night we were camped down in a valley, and I had a nightmare about Creb telling me to climb, to get out, and he wanted me to hurry. I woke up in the middle of the night and insisted on moving out of the valley. The valley flooded within seconds of us reaching the hill on the other side!"

The Doctor's interest was piqued, "That's interesting. Anything else?"

Ayla wracked her brain, for every unexplainable nightmare that she new meant something, but couldn't figure out. She recalled one. It was one that weighed heavily on her mind, and she still felt sorrow just thinking about it. "Once, When I was living with Lion Camp, I had a nightmare..." she trailed off, a mist in her eye.

"What was it? What did you see?" The Doctor had moved to look Ayla in the eye.

"I saw Durc..." she choked back tears.

"Who's Durc?" the Doctor asked, and when he got no reply, he looked to Jondalar. "Who is Durc?" His question was only met with a stony glance from the tall blonde man.

"My son." Ayla said, barely a whisper. A single tear rolled down the side of her face into her hair.

The Doctor was shocked, "You had a child? When?"

Jondalar and Ayla exchanged glances, and by the way the man's brow furrowed and his jaw set, the Doctor could tell it was a touchy subject. He wasn't going to press them.

Ayla spoke almost inaudibly, "When I was living with the Clan."

The Doctor's eyes grew wide with wonder, and saw the look of sorrow on the woman's face. His curiosity was too high, and he had to know more. "What happened to him? What happened in your dream?"

"I had to leave him behind when I left, when I was forced out of the Clan." she answered, and wiped a tear from her eye.

"I'm sorry. I want to know about your dream, Ayla. What happened to Durc in your dream? What happened that made you so sad?" The Doctor asked again, and hummed in wonderment.

"I saw my son, Durc, and another. He was my son too, but he looked different, like Jondalar, and I knew..." She broke down into sobs.

The Doctor grabbed Ayla's hand and rubbed it soothingly, "It's okay, take your time." He waited for her to speak again.

"I knew," she sobbed over and over, then calmed. "I knew that one would kill the other." Ayla broke into sobs once more.

The Doctor's eyes widened, he knew exactly what her dream was about. Her son Durc, born to the Clan, represented the Neanderthal race; and the other son, the one that looked like Jondalar, represented the Homo Sapiens. It was always rumored that the new race of humans wiped out the older, ancient race through genocide, rather than their inability to adapt, but no one really knew, not even The Doctor. Time was always being rewritten, changing history. He could never keep up with what reality he was in.

After the woman calmed down, The Doctor spoke again. "It might not be what it seems, Ayla. But, just know that it doesn't have to happen that way."

The woman nodded and gave him a hopeful smile.

"When did these dreams start? Did anything happen that could have brought them on?" The Doctor asked.

Ayla's mind went back to the Clan Summer Gathering, where, high on the drink made for the women's rituals, she stumbled away from the festivities to find the bowl that contained a considerable amount of the sacred datura tea she prepared for the mog-urs. Ashamed, confused and desperate, she drank the remnants. She became deeply intoxicated, and unwittingly staggered into the cave. She followed the flickering lamps winding deeper and deeper into the cave, all the way to where the mog-urs were gathered in their secret rites. She wasn't supposed to be there, it was forbidden. She had to get out, but her mind was falling into the void, journeying with the mog-urs to the spirit world. Her consciousness fell into darkness, swallowed by a never-ending abyss.

Then she felt someone there inside her mind. It was Creb. He brought her back, then took her with him back to their mutual beginnings. He lead her through the memories of the history of their people, then suddenly he wasn't there anymore. She kept on going, further and further. She saw strange things: things she couldn't comprehend.

"Yes." Ayla said, her mind still half-clouded in the memory. When the mist cleared from her vision, she saw The Doctor looking at her expectantly. "It was at the Clan Summer Gathering," she continued. "I had prepared a drink for the mog-urs, for their secret rituals. Iza was supposed to because she was from the only line of medicine women who knew how to make it, but she was too weak to make the trip, so she told me how to do it, she couldn't show me: it was too sacred, and I made it in her place. I must have made it wrong, because I found the rest of it. It couldn't be thrown away, so I drank it. I became disoriented, and stumbled into the cave by mistake. I came upon the mog-urs in the middle of the ritual and saw something that I wasn't meant to see. My mind fell into the void." She looked up with fear in her eyes.

The Void? It couldn't be, The Doctor thought to himself. "And then what happened?" The Doctor urged her on.

"Creb found me and he brought me back." Ayla continued. "Then he took me with him through the memories to see the beginning of our history. Then I began to go further, and suddenly Creb was no longer with me. Somehow he couldn't follow me. I went further and further. I saw some of the strangest things: Boxlike structures that rose up out of the ground, ribbons of stone, creatures that crawled along them with great speed, birds that flew without flapping their wings. Other, stranger scenes. I couldn't understand them." Ayla shook her head in hopeless confusion. Her eyes flicked back to The Doctor. He was staring wide-eyed at her, not moving, not saying a word, a shocked expression plastered on his face. She didn't like it; it made her feel frightened.

It was impossible. She had seen the future: modern day, or at least the twenty-first century. Ayla's mind had traveled billions of years into the future of humanity. The things she had seen were skyscrapers, roads and cars, airplanes. It was impossible, so how had it come to be possible? The one she called Creb, and the mog-urs must have been very intelligent, or possessed of some formidable psychic abilities. And the disorienting drink that she was talking about.

"What was in that drink you prepared? What was it for?" The Doctor asked, pulling himself out of his reverie.

"It's called datura." Ayla answered. "And it was to open their minds so that they could establish a connection to each other's spirit, so they could share and remember the memories of their history."

Datura! Of course. It's highly toxic, explaining her mind falling into the "void", and a powerful hallucinogen, which if prepared a certain way could give someone who ingests it a delirium that could be interpreted as psychic visions. But had it really opened their minds and took them back through their history: back through time? Could it have opened her mind, found an innate ability that was already there and awakened it? That could explain her seemingly-psychic premonitions: her nightmares.

"Doctor!" Ayla's frightened cries pushed away his thoughts. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he assured her. "I just think you have an incredible ability."

"I had another nightmare last night." Ayla offered. "I was drifting among the stars. I could see everything that ever was and ever would be. Then I was back on solid ground. I saw something fall from the sky. It was a terrible shade of blue, it made a terrifying whirling noise. It crashed and made the earth shake. The ground wouldn't stop shaking and it turned into an earthquake."

The Doctor had stopped listening after his brain fixated on the words "blue" and "whirling noise." No. It couldn't be. The TARDIS. She dreamed of the TARDIS crashing here. Then a horrifying realization dawned on him. She had made a telepathic connection with the TARDIS because of her psychic ability. She'd seen all of time and space. That was how she ended up like this. That's how she gained that knowledge. That dangerous knowledge that was going to destroy her mind. Luckily she was strong. She had been holding up quite well, considering. But it was still going to kill her, unless he got rid of it.


End file.
